I have green ones on most of my vines, but nowhere NEAR anything to pick yet!

Enjoy,
Skybird

I got a few ripe sweet cheery 100's, maybe 6.

Half the tomatoes have green fruit.

Low yesterday morning 48F colo springs 6650 feet.

I had to think for a few minutes about what you were suggesting noting the 48°F, ColSprgMaters. Half of the July mornings here have been 48° or below. But yes, that slows those warm-season plants down. (We are supposed to have blowing dust with a new cool front and another few morning with below 50° after the wind dies. :o(

Sorie. Please tell us what variety is producing ripe tomatoes for you in your garden!

Not much to report here but the plants are looking pretty darn good! I have some real hope that it may turn out to be a good tomato season!

Steve

I have only blossoms so far, but I got everything out late this year. My husband was out staring at them a couple days ago, as if he could will the fruit into existence. We can't wait!

It is Early Girl. She's planted close to the house on the south side. She was close enough to the house that the hail didn't get her!! She has another tomato that is yellow. If it gets warm maybe I can pick it soon!!

You are doing great. Congratulations. I have only been getting a few here on the southern edge of zone 5b. My first larger one was an Old Time Tasty about 2 weeks ago. Then an Pink Girl last week and another yesterday. Have picked one Juane Flammee' and a few cherries. A handful from a Texas Star cherry cross and a Sweet Treats. Will be picking a few cherries about every night this week and may have another bigger type by the end of the week. Any time I get tomatoes here by the 4th I feel I'm doing good. I usually have to plant an early variety like 4th of July to do it. Pink Girl hybrid has impressed me so far. It may be back next year. Has continued setting well and the first heat wave didn't seem to faze it.

Hope everyone is eating fresh tomatoes and BLT's soon. Jay

None here---- blossoms only so far.
Caroline

I know the feeling - even that little first taste of the year is great. Didn't plant Early Girl this year because I wanted to try something different, but I really did like the taste of those last year, and they were a little better sized than what I have so far.

Been picking and eating a few 4th of July, Stupice, and SunSugar lately, so nothing bigger than a golf ball yet. Can't wait until the big ones ripen, I have some getting really big on Brandywine, Mortgage Lifter, and Cherokee Purple, but none have blushed yet. Plants are getting over 6' tall already so I'm ahead of where I was last year.

I have a three or so Rainy's Maltese (sp) that are starting to turn. Other than that, its full blown tomato crud season this week, with temps in the high 90's, and have fingers crossed I don't lose too many more plants - yanked out two more today.

David, what's this "tomato crud" you speak of? Blight? I thought a week of 90s+ meant good tomato growing and ripening weather!

Well, traditionally speaking, the full blown tomato crud is also known as curly top virus, which seems to hit when it gets hot, and the wind blows the beet leaf hoppers in from the desert. Now, what a beet leaf hopper is doing out in the desert carrying around a plant virus, they don't say.

But this year I'm also getting some sort of blight, with the lower leaves rapidly turning yellow and black-blotched, and the plant dying the next day or so.

I get the yellow, spotted leaves late in the season, but it doesn't affect the whole plant.

Anywho, they do seem to like the warmer weather, particularly the night time temps, which are now solidly in the 50's over here, and that makes all the difference. I have one variety, a big pink beefsteak monster plant called "Pink Climber" that is taking off at about 6" a day.

You have to prune up the lower leaves and assiduously avoid splashing to slow down blight. And mulch heavily. Some on the organics forum have a few ideas that might work too. Viruses from leafhoppers can't be stopped if the critter sucks your plant juices.

Dan

Curly top virus has now been a factor here for the last 5 or 6 years - its not just me but everyone who grows tomatoes. I lose between 20 and 40% of what gets planted, usually this part of the summer. One here, one there, some varieties immune one year, hammered the next. Which is what happens to everybody else. Which is why I plant 50 - 60 of the things.:-0

Other than that, it seems that my total garden re-do is getting things back up to snatch - scrapped the old plan, tilled and shoveled and made large 3-4' wide mounds (aka "raised beds") with cattle panels down the middle, everything protected by weed barrier and anything open, heavily mulched with grass clippings. The tomato plants are back to growing the way they should - half way up the panels now, should be at the top by August.

Old Time Tasty, I've looked thru the Burpee catalog twice since you mentioned it, Jay, and still don't find it in there. However, I've got the link to that variety below.

Burpee claims it is a 70 day variety - so, it's early. What do you think about this one? It must be new.

I'll be out in the 'mater patch this evening and will enlist DW's aid in searching around. Leaf cover is pretty good and I can't even find the green ones that I found a couple of weeks ago. Don't suppose they blew away . . .

Steve

Here is a link that might be useful: Old Time Tasty

I wish I had tomatoes! I did notice one plant has a few blossom buds just starting to show--horray!

I'm glad I'm not in Calgary though, I think I have a longer growing period than you do, Caroline.

I think they are all doing well. They look happy to me.

I started early enough in my mind but since this was the first time I started from seed, I am now looking back and realizing I should have started earlier. Just not enough time for things to grow here.

I forgot to put turnip seeds out. I just realized that. I'm going to put a few out anyway.

J

In my tomato patch today . . . . . . I found 2 ripe Sungold cherry tomatoes. YAY!!

The Gary O Sena (Brandywine x Purple Cherokee) fruit that showed up first -- did, indeed, blow off the plant in the windstorm last week. I suppose that it wouldn't have been earlier than the Sungolds but it might have been the first beefsteak. Now, I'll just have to wait for whatever shows up.

Kimberley is a small tomato and no beefsteak but the plants have quite a few green fruits. Ildi, as usual, is covered with tiny green fruit which just seem impossible for the plant to grow to maturity but we will see. Ildi can really, really produce but fruit size can shrink down to very, very tiny.

Other than several lost branches from the wind, the plants look good. I'll need to exercise more patience (and look hard for Sungolds when I'm out there).

Steve

I bought one huge Early Girl tomato start from our farmers' market, and I've had 2 tomatoes off of it so far. Most of the other stuff I planted is cherry tomatoes, and I'm seeing lots of blossoms. I might have to brave the mosquitos in that corner and check for green tomatoes again soon.

Steve,
It was the first one so of course it was good. Have had a lull since. Will be picking more soon. Can tell you more then. Pink Girl Hybrid has been the steadiest to this point and still setting good. Not bad for an earlier hybrid. I'm not sure what days the say on it. But I transplanted it May 17th and picked the first fruit around July 1st. Picked my first Glick's 18 Mennonite yesterday. That is always good news as there is usually several more after that one. One plant produced over 100 4-5 ouncers last year.

I'm growing several Brandywine crosses including Gary O Sena. I have one called Big Cheef that I like the looks of. Hope it continues and I get to eat a few and save seeds. Will be saving seeds from all that do good. Anyone that would like a few just needs to drop a line later. Jay

Been eating lots of SunSweet Cherry, Stupice, and 4th of July, but still not a single Brandywine, Mortgage Lifter, or Cherokee Purple. They're sure getting big though, some are already bigger than any of the biggest Beefmaster I had last year. Patience...

Steve, what does this mean??:

"Ildi, as usual, is covered with tiny green fruit which just seem impossible for the plant to grow to maturity but we will see. Ildi can really, really produce but fruit size can shrink down to very, very tiny."

Does it mean that it gets so many fruits that they don't ripen properly? Or, does it mean that there are so many fruits that the plant itself won't grow much?

I'm totally clueless over here! Do you end up picking some fruits off so the others can grow more?

Thanks,
Jennifer

Jennifer, it might help to thin the fruit. I haven't done that.

Ildi is a wonderful little yellow pear/grape. It has a good flavor. But, it is something like that little laying hen that just can't moderate production before she wears herself down to a frizzle!

Ildi begins to have some disease problems late in the season in my garden but stills seems to struggle to kick out more fruit to the last.

Steve

I had my first SunSugar today and so, the face-off between SunGold and SunSugar begins anew!!

SunSugar isn't really supposed to be only 3 days behind Sungold but that's how it turned out . . . at least, for those very few fruits right down near the base of the plant.

Also, the 1st Early Girl with a serious blush has shown up.

I was noticing how the plants were once again covered with their tiny yellow star-like blossoms. Then the wind began to come up and there were gusts above 30mph and blowing dust. This happened 2 weeks ago with higher winds and all those flowers blew away! Maybe this won't be a repeat of that experience.

Steve

I've had a handful of Sungolds off of two plants. For everything else, about half the plants have fruit on them, some completely loaded, and the other half don't have a single one.

Same with the peppers, out of 20 plants, most have nothing, but a couple of them have full sized fruit.

Who knows whats going to happen over the next 6 weeks until its all over.

I had my first Jaune Flammé tomato today and the 2nd Mr. Stripey (Tigerella).

Both of these varieties are just loaded with fruit! There seems to be quite a lot of fruit on everything except the beefsteaks . . .

There was also a red cherry for the 1st time. I've got both Sweet 100 and Sweet Chelsea. The Sweet Chelsea plants are huge! I've always liked how Sweet Chelsea grows in my garden. It seems to like it here.

A handful at a time of the Sungolds and SunSugars but they'll be reaching a "hatful" sometime soon. Maybe . . .

It isn't really fair to assess a variety based on a 1st fruit but I've been looking forward to having Jaune Flammé in my garden and on a plate for years! I couldn't understand why it had so many different days-to-maturity ratings but finally just decided to find out for myself if it can produce fruit early enuf for my garden. Looks like it and, what a nice flavor!!

Steve

I found a large Vorlon, the top cracked from the rain, but the lower 3/4ths perfectly ripe, and frantically made the first 2010 BLT. The forum readers will be glad to know that I haven't lost my touch, efficiency wise, with the toast toasting and the bacon microwaving, the lettuce and mayo with the left hand as the right slices up the tomato, the whole a symphonic poem of culinary motion as the toes put the bacon package back in the fridge.

I have several vines that are now over 5 ft high and wide, and I can't find a single tomato on them. I may have too much nitrogen in the soil, but I dunno how that happened, unless my clover/grass clippings are a lot better than I think.

HA - the mad dash to make a BLT - I can understand that! Lots of moving pieces to coordinate for sure.

My latest and last plant to give me a ripe tomato was Cherokee Purple, and so far I think it might be my favorite. It was a big mutant that required some major surgery to get properly sliced up. My first Brandywines and Mortage Lifters were perhaps a little less flavorful than I was expecting, but as was mentioned, the first ones are sometimes like that and they do seem to be improving. Still great, but after eating the stronger tasting small Stupice, 4th of July, and SunSugar, it's hard to compare.

A picture of a couple of big Brandywines I haven't eaten yet and that first Cherokee Purple...

Sigh ... I've been avoiding this thread, as it was just too depressing to think of everyone eating big juicy tomatoes, when I didn't even have any green ones yet.

I spent the good part of the day tying up tomato plants so that I can actually get in there to harvest something one day, and I was pleased to find that about 1/3 of the plants had tomatoes almost the size of a quarter. Guess when the temperatures dropped out of the 95º to 100º range the fruit finally started setting. Like David, I was thinking maybe there was too much nitrogen in the soil, but the fact that I didn't do anything different than last year, had me doubting that theory from the beginning.

At least I have ripe peppers, carrots, cucumbers, and strawberries to console myself with : )

Bonnie

I just got back from southern Ohio, and ho-lee cr*p the blight they have back there! Very happy to garden here, surely, not even counting the poison ivy, chiggers, et al.

That said, I had good fruit set while gone.

Dan

Posted by highalttransplant

Sigh ... I've been avoiding this thread, as it was just too depressing to think of everyone eating big juicy tomatoes . . .

You weren't thinking about me, Bonnie!

The Tigerella and Flammé tomatoes are plum-sized.

After growing only 1 slicer and 1 cherry each year for like 30 years . . . okay, it wasn't thaaat long . . . but since my cherries were always Large Red Cherry, I thought that cherries and larger fruit would just come at the same time. LRC is a BIG plant and takes quite awhile to produce a ripe cherry.

It isn't really true that ALL cherries are first to the table but I'm glad I finally decided to try a little variety in the cherry selections. You know, it might be that small-sized plants tend to produce first . . .

I've got some proven early beefsteaks but I'm kind of going nutz too seeing next to no fruit that has any size to it on those plants! Right now, I wonder if they'll be any closer to producing a ripe tomato after another 2 or 3 weeks!

S'

Here are some of the new early/earlies that I've got right now:

Those are SunSugar cherries, very similar to the more popular Sungolds. They aren't new to me, I've grown (and loved :o) them, for 7 or 8 years.

The size and shape of the others surprised me - I'd kind of anticipated more plums! The one on the left isn't quite ripe but I've had 3 or 4 ripe ones off the plants. It is a Buisson. They are great and keep me from missing the Bloody Butchers (that all died from the cold), too much!

The one on the right (yes, it is only 1 tomato ;o) is a Kimberley. All of the fruit on those plants look about like that! None have split yet . . . so, I don't know quite what to think about Kimberley. And, the small plants are just loaded with those weird little guys!

The ripe Kimberley was real tasty and almost seedless. I am a little disappointed this is the very first ripe fruit off the plants. Besides not anticipating the wild shapes, I really expected earlier ripening from this variety from a mountain valley in British Columbia.

(Along with Jaune Flammé and Tigerella [Mr. Stripey], those are my larger tomatoes right now :o).

Steve

Oh, I can see them this time, Digit! I can WAY see them, and itÂs a good thing you live so far away or I just might come up there and beat you up! (You know IÂm funnin ya!) How can youÂup there in the North LandsÂhave such great tomatoes?

This has NOT been a Blue Ribbon tomato year for me! The few I have ripe are SMALL, Smaller, and smallest! A few of my Sungolds have been the size of a big pea! I kid you not! Most of them are about ½" across. The Sweet Baby Girls are a little bit bigger, but not much! And my few Stupice and Bloody Butchers continue to be less than 2" in diameter. The few Mortgage LiftersÂstill TOTALLY greenÂare a little bit bigger, but they just might need to ripen hanging by their feet in my garage! Kelloggs Breakfast FINALLY has a couple pea-size ones just starting to develop. I decided to start hand pollinating the FEW flowers on that one just to get SOMETHING! And my total dud, Yellow Brandywine, STILL doesnÂt even have any flowers!

On the positive side, the few IÂve eaten lately DO seem to be developing more flavor than the first ones I hadÂbut still not comparable to past years.

Oh, and thereÂs the JulietÂlarge, oblong cherry. That one is ripening more fruit, but they remain pretty much flavorless.

So here I am, sitting here feeling sorry for you up there in the "cold north," and you wind up with some pretty good lookin tomatoes, and I wind up being the one down here in the cozy (spell that HOT) "south" just not getting anything out of mine.

It looks like this is going to be one of those totally forgetable tomato years for me!

Skybird

P.S. Great picture, and great tomatoes, Digit! Your cherries look huge and wonderful! (She said, salivating!)

P.P.S. Love your rocks! Stick one in an envelope and send it to me! ;-)

Oh yum. We are finally getting some more tomatoes. Picked 6 this evening.
Next yr. I've got to get advice from you folks on the kind to plant.
Hope you are all getting lots by now.

I have lots of big green tomatoes, but nothing is ripening! I have no idea why, but it's very frustrating.

The weather service tells us up here that we are about to have an event of some note: high 80's with 30mph winds! After that, I fully expect a good deal of red and yellow in the tomato patch. Just hope, there isn't a lot of red and yellow in our forests . . .

The neighbor was commenting on the Early Girl plants that I gave him. Said that the cooler weather coming up should prompt ripening. I don't know about that. Would we expect a green tomato in the fridge to ripen quickly?

On the other thread about green tomatoes and approaching fall, D is "root pruning" his tomatoes there in Colorado Springs. The hot wind should do about the same here, I suspect.

. . . kind of a reward for staying indoors Thursday afternoon and driving around in a dirt-encrusted pickup on Friday.

Steve

These aren't our FIRST tomatoes, but didn't get around to getting pics till now. The red ones are Black Krim and the yellows are Yellow Pear. The YP have been producing like crazy for quite some time, but the BK have been catching up nicely. Been canning a few so we'll enjoy some over the winter.

We have some peppers as well, but can't remember what variety! They taste mostly like a bell pepper, but are mildly hot. They get a light touch of orange to them around the time I pick them.

Marj

Marj, those look like they might be some type of Anaheim peppers. I'd describe them as "mildly hot."

I can't grow Yellow Pear and I tried and tried. They split like crazy! Ildi comes thru fine but they may be more of a grape. You can see them in the picture below.

Those are cute little Tigerella, altho' the photo isn't nearly clear enuf. They have charming stripes on tender skins . . . and green seeds and gel! That's a little disarming. Still, they are real good and real productive! I think DW is coming around to them. They might be the big "find" for 2010!

And, the plants labeled Kimberley all have those weird fruits. I've checked as closely as I can on the internet. They are NOT supposed to be shaped like that! I don't know what happened. I mean, I got the seed just about as close to Kimberley, BC as I could get -- there in Calgary, AB!

Oh, and that's a bed of fresh Sugar Buns corn!

Steve

My husband would be sooo jealous of your white corn - that's his favorite vege!! He decided not to plant corn because we have so many squirrels around here, he thought it would be a loosing battle.

The Tigerella tomato sounds really interesting! May have to try some next year.

Actually, Sugar Buns is a yellow, Marj.

The light was a bit of the problem, no doubt. Two mile visibility with 39mph gusts and blowing dirt! What a mess!

(But, I'm counting on the stress to ripen some of the many green tomatoes in the garden! "Ill blows the wind that profits nobody." ~ Shakespeare )

Steve

DW and I enjoyed our first ripe beefsteak yesterday for lunch, a Rainy's Maltese. It was wonderful!

Darn homely but there are many, many lovely beefsteaks out there - just waiting for another week or 2 of sunshine . . . Another windstorm in the forecast but no lows below 45° for this week.

This large tomato is just about 14 days later than the 1st last year.

Steve

We are finally starting to see our tomatoes turn. I think it was worth the wait though. My husband, who normally doesn't like tomatoes likes the black pearl hybrids we planted this year a lot. I'll post a photo when we have a few more ripening at once.

We're in the middle of it now, but I still have yet to see a ripe Aunt Gertie's Gold out of 8 vines, nor any "Off the Vine" Brandywine. But the Rainy's Maltese have been giving wonderful fruit for 3 weeks now. I've one plant that must be 5 foot in diameter.

I was a bit smarter this year and only planted 3 sun gold. Couldn't sell any at the market, and now I'm too busy with all the other varieties to bother with them, aside from eating a few dozen as I walk around the garden every day.

Had an Orange Minsk on my chili omelet this morning! It was too large to go on 2 large omelets so . . . DW finished the Orange Minsk, on the side! Hey, Mikey! (DW likes mild tomatoes. ;o)

I am afraid that, once again, I've lost some tags. My tree tag/bamboo stake experiment, may not have worked too well. I don't have a clue where Miracle of the Market is . . . and Josie's Grandma is a complete mystery! It either died in the late frost and was replaced in the ensuing confusion, or, it is that unidentified plant on the windward end of 1 row. The Josie's Grandma tag was found in the grass about 30' away after 1 of the spring windstorms . . .

The Early Girls are finally coming off in a wholesale fashion. But, some of the golden cherries look like they will soon be running on empty.

Steve

I've gotten a couple more piriforms, but still very slow to ripen out there.

The very first Goliaths were picked today! They are usually just a few days ahead of the Big Beefs.

It will take them a couple days on the counter to ripen. Every variety (that I have a history with) is late, late this year. I don't think there's much of a chance that I will enjoy the usual 3-week harvest of Big Beef & Goliath.

Legend is another that I can't find because of tagging problems. There's a plant that looks like a Legend (with more good-sized fruit than leaves!). But, the nearby tag says Big Beef.

I really should know by taste here in another week. A high today of 63°F isn't exactly encouraging tho' but the weather is supposed to be warming.

Steve

Hey I think I might actually get to pick my first ripe tomato tomorrow! It looks like Soldacki wins the race this year, even if it is 6 weeks later than last years winner ...

Here it is, the first ripe tomato of 2010, a Soldacki!

As you can see, it weighed in at over a pound! I harvested one other tomato, another Soldacki, which was around 1/2 a lb.

Made homemade spaghetti for dinner with lots of fresh herbs from the garden ... yum!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

: )

Yay, Bonnie!